Absorbent articles, such as diapers and feminine hygiene products, generally include an absorbent core disposed between a liquid-permeable, body-facing topsheet and a liquid-impermeable, garment-facing backsheet. An additional layer of material is often applied to the garment-facing side of the backsheet as an external cover. The external cover to the absorbent article can be formed from a non-woven material to provide a soft texture to the absorbent article. The external cover also can form the landing zone for a mechanical fastener, and can therefore include mechanical fastening elements, such as loops.
The external cover also can include printed images to improve the aesthetic appeal of the absorbent article. A conventional approach to providing such aesthetic appeal includes printing images on the exterior (garment-facing) surface of the external cover. This method provides good image resolution, but creates problems with color loss and fuzz visibility. Colors on the garment-facing surface of the external cover can be lost when they come into frictional contact with other surfaces, such as hands, clothes, complementary mechanical fastening elements (e.g., hooks), etc. This results both in the degradation of the printed image and the undesirable color transfer of the printed image to the contacting surface. Colors on the garment-facing surface of the external cover also increase the apparent degree of fuzz on a fibrous substrate, such as a non-woven web.
An alternate conventional approach intended to limit color loss and fuzz visibility includes printing images on the interior (body-facing) surface of the external cover. Printed in this manner, the images are only visible when viewed through the external cover, and they appear muted, having a reduced image resolution.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a printed article that could be used as an external cover for an absorbent article, which printed article retains the advantages and reduces the disadvantages of the conventional printing methods. Specifically, such a printed article should advantageously exhibit good image quality, limited color loss, and a limited degree of fuzz.